Taken from the Spring 2020 issue of Wonderland. Order your copy of the issue now.

Patron saint of those who prefer to live life between dreamworlds, QUIÑ conjured a soundscape stretching into new dimensions on her latest album, LUCID. Reflecting on its release, the artist unravels her ethereal sound and divine influences with us.

“There was this giant volcano and the next thing I know, it erupts…” Fantasy soul singer QUIÑ, born Bianca Leonor Quiñones, is telling me about her lucid dreams over the phone. Speaking to her feels like peeking into another dimension in itself, catching quick glimpses of clear blue American skies from out of her car window whilst I’m an ocean away in London, attempting to make out her words in the midst of a windstorm. “It erupted again, so big that it disintegrated everything that it touched immediately,” she continues theatrically, “And I was like, ‘dammit, see? I knew this would be how the world was gonna end.’” As it turns out, there’s a tangible reason behind her music sounding this ethereal. Her latest offering, seven-track project LUCID, mentally lifts you to other realms you never knew existed, in part inspired by her research into her own lucid dreams and the elements that could possibly affect them. But primarily, the project acts as a sequel for her previous EP, “DREAMGIRL”. “I always had lucid dreams,” she tells me, “even since being a baby little girl [they] were a place where I could just manifest any toy then and there, and I would play around in that world.” We both laugh at the idea of using the power of controlling your dreams for something so naive and two-dimensional. It’s relatable. “But then, I grew up and they started getting serious — like, not about boys or changing my outfit. It was deeper all of a sudden.” The signal cuts out, a nightmare. When we manage to reconnect, she instantly goes back to calmly describing the specific dream that inspired one of her first singles, “Sea of Space”.

“I was dreaming normally and then I entered this door and landed in space… I started to swim around and I was like, ‘Why do I have this life jacket on? Is this my oxygen? Hold on, how am I in space? That was the morning I woke up and realised, OK, I was sent somewhere. I didn’t make up that 3D movie I just watched. I didn’t make up space just now; I just happened to be there.” In part, QUIÑ credits her school choir for helping her find her voice at a young age. “I went to Christian school as a kid and we had this group called Face to Face. We would write little songs together and then at home I’d do my secret other things, but that was more like writing in my diary,” she explains. Though it feels like it was always her calling, growing up shy meant she only truly started to believe in her writing at 19, when her first heartbreak pushed her to use music to work through emotions. “I was really able to unlock something inside of me, because I’d never had that before,” she says, explaining that though the pain was an uncomfortable reality check, it made way for divine inspiration and integral soul searching that forged the path for her next moves.

“I’d never really gone through anything and so that’s when I realised I should do something about this. It really just turned into damn, that shit is really good. Let’s do that on a better day.” It’s obvious that collaboration has always been a form of play in QUIÑ’s songwriting, from her early days in the choir room all the way up to her recent tracks featuring bars from artists including 6LACK and Infinity. On the differences between working alone versus with others, she muses: “It’s easy to make songs in your own space, you can do that forever. Sometimes you have to step out and realise your friends are here to help too, and that’s fun.” I take this opportunity to ask about her all-time dream collaboration, if the universe could make way for it. “Oh man, shoot. I’m trying to be in Star Wars. I’m trying to be a Jedi,” she decides. Snapping back to reality, I ask about the dreamiest moment of her career so far, and without missing a beat, she declares it’s now: “I don’t have to wait to go to sleep and hope that I dream. It can also be a reality.”